MTL - The Beloved Imperial Consort - Chapter 445 Struggle

I’m a high school student who became an author after debuting at Dengeki Bunko. After taking a year of hiatus from school to write my work, I transferred out to another high school to study, and met a girl called Eri Nitadori in school, a rookie voice actress cast as a character in the anime adaptation of my work.

In school, we treat our professions as a secret. However, Nitadori’s very popular in class, and I’m a loner…the only chance we get to talk to each other is when we take the Limited Express train together every Thursday, seated side by side as we head off for an anime, After Recording.

To improve her skills, she asked me questions regarding the profession. While I was answering the questions regarding the process–how did it end up like this.

This is what I last remembered before I lost consciousness, and the story of my near-death experience.

In a world where power reigns supreme, Zoey Monroe was born with nothing. Labeled “Mana-less” in a society of Hunters, she was the stain on the prestigious Monroe Family, a shame to one of Sunrow City's most powerful bloodlines. Ridiculed, ostracized, and treated as less than human, Zoey endured years of scorn.Until one day, at seventeen, she made a choice—to leave it all behind.Six months later, struggling to make ends meet in the city, Zoey’s life takes an unexpected turn. After another grueling day at work, she returns home, only to witness a dungeon rift tearing open behind her apartment.Drawn by curiosity—and the desperate hunger for change—she steps inside. But the dungeon is merciless. Death looms over her, suffocating, inevitable... until—[Enough Mana Has Been Accumulated!][Error! A mysterious system has already been bound to the host. Adjusting...][Ding! Installing the A Hundred Times System!]In an instant, Zoey's fate is rewritten. From outcast to overpowered, from weakling to warrior—the path to greatness has begun.This is her story.

Born as a lowly goblin, Leav refused to accept fate’s cruelty. Through sheer will and tactical brilliance, he clawed his way up—evolving, battling, and commanding monsters who once saw him as nothing. But power comes at a cost. As war rages and enemies lurk in shadows, Leav faces betrayal, brutal losses, and the cold truth—strength alone won’t forge a kingdom. With ancient magic resurfacing and rival factions closing in, can he rise above mere survival and claim true dominion? In a world where the strong rule and the weak perish, Leav must choose: remain a pawn or become a king.

Betrayed by his former gang and thrown into the Rendhold Underprison, Dantes has spent the last five years scraping by. A whoreson of orcish, human, and elvish blood, he's lived on the periphery of the periphery, lying, cheating, and stealing to survive. After a run of bad luck, he's made a powerful enemy. Luckily, he's also gotten all the tools he needs to turn things around.A slow burn progression fantasy focused on rising through the criminal underworld of a city-state using newfound powers and quick wits.MC's powers will develop slowly, but he will use them in creative ways to get ahead, and in the meantime he's not above just braining someone with a club.Anti-hero/villainous MC with a code.